Been hit up to address a group of teachers on reflective teacher development. The teachers will come from around the Northern Mie area, and possibly from the Aichi area. My hope is to do this as a workshop, but it looks as if there will be no way of knowing how many people will actually show up for it.

One of the topics I plan to cover is "autobiography" as a method of reflection on our work as teachers. When I say autobiography, I don't mean to suggest that the teachers will be expected to discuss their childhoods as possible determining factors in their decisions to become teachers. I mean to tell stories about their classes or other activities that have an effect on their teaching. Junior high teachers have tons of stuff to do that doesn't have anything to do with their English classrooms. For example, one teacher said that at lunch hour, teachers roam the halls, trying to create raport with students. I asked if, in her experience, all of the students wanted to be raported with. She said they did not. Some of them actually resent the invasion of what little privacy they have in the school.

Teacher autobiography really opens up fascinating doors into the world of teacherdom, but if this group of teachers that is to show up on August 24th is too big, it may be a problem. They'll just have to work in smaller groups and attend the YoTI later.